I’m not a diplomat. A major focus of my work with companies over the last thirty-some years has been on communication between people who work together. A key element of communication in a corporate setting is to make requests, i.e., to ask for what you want or need in order to do your job, and then to stick around for an answer. It seems to me that these basic elements of communication – request and response – make sense between nations, just as they make sense between individuals, groups, companies, and other organizations.
Of course, sometimes, instead of a polite request, what is called for is a demand – whether stated politely or not: “Please remove yourself from the premises” or “Get the fuck off my property!” At times, we don’t need to overtly state what we want. It may be so obvious that just a hint, a gesture, or a look is necessary. At other times we need to spell it out: what exactly do we want the other party to do and by when? And we may need to specify consequences if our request is not granted.
I tend to look at international relations through that prism of individual and organizational communication. The American people, the people of Europe, and, most especially, the Ukrainian people do not want the Russian military in Ukraine. We want Russian forces to withdraw from Ukrainian territory, starting with the territory it has invaded in recent weeks. So I look for and listen for American federal government officials to make clear requests and/or demands of the Russian government. But I can’t find them! Several times I’ve read over the text of Biden’s Feb. 24 “Remarks on Russia’s Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine” and of his March 1st State of the Union address, and nowhere do I see that he has asked or demanded of Russia that it stop its attacks or withdraw its military forces from Ukraine. And that really surprises me. I see that we have openly stated that sanctions will be employed, but I haven’t heard or read any clear statement of what the U.S. requires Russia to do in order for the sanctions to be lifted or for further punitive actions against Russia to be taken off the table.
Perhaps somebody somewhere in the U.S. government thinks that what we want the Russians to do is so obvious that we don’t actually need to say it. I disagree. And looking back over some of the moments when American presidents have told Russia (or its predecessor, the Soviet Union) what we want, I have found some clear and precise language, perhaps none more so than Ronald Reagan’s well-known demand, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
I was not a fan of Ronald Reagan, and I never voted for him, not for governor and not for president, but he had his moments, and that speech at the Brandenburg Gate was one of them.
It’s not too late for President Biden to make an open, clear, specific, and public request of President Putin to stop his assault on Ukraine and its people, to withdraw his military forces from Ukrainian territory, and to have his representatives meet with American and NATO officials to negotiate an end to this violent conflict and to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and our allies.